It is sometimes necessary to provide a container for holding a fluid under pressure and to assure that the container cannot be reused for holding a fluid under pressure. One example is the bottle or container commonly used to hold a calibration gas, such as a gas comprising oxygen, carbon dioxide and nitrogen, for use in calibrating an apparatus which monitors the partial pressures of blood gases. In this case, the gas is furnished under pressure in a closed container to the user. The container has a valve which can be opened by depressing of an actuator to allow the gas under pressure to be released to the instrument to be calibrated.
The valve employed with the container is commonly referred to as a Schrader Valve, and this valve operates much in the same manner as a conventional passenger tire valve in that depression of an actuator allows the gases from within the container to be released through the valve. A valve of this type allows the container to be refilled by simply depressing of the actuator to open the valve much in the same manner that a passenger car tire can be reinflated. However, this is not acceptable at least in some countries whose laws forbid reusing of containers of this type for calibration gases at pressures greater than a predetermined level.
One way to prevent the reuse of a container of this type is to employ a valve with a frangible element which is capable of only a single use. However, this would require a complete redesign of the container described above with consequent cost and other possible undesirable departures from a construction found to be most satisfactory.